Erica's Rough Day

Erica got to the office at the same time she always gets in, 8 am on the dot. The day started out like any other day. Erica wasn't like most people. She looked forward to coming to work. It was the one place where everything seemed to be going in the right direction. She had full control over her professional life, which was a newer feeling for her. Her personal life? That was "fine". She loved Jason with all of her heart, but things just seemed to be on cruise. Erica is like anyone else. Fears of marriage pop up and settle down. She felt fortunate that her biggest concern was that she would live a happy, boring life. She knew she wasn't holding her end of the agreement when it came to sex either. She couldn't help it. She was someone who craved adventure. Chaos made her excited not only mentally, but physically. Since she met Jason she saw that her world got a lot more predictable. That also led to a noticeable decline in the bedroom. She had tried everything, books, podcasts, therapy, but nothing made that physical urge just come back. Erica's biggest concern was that her and Jason would just float through life uneventfully. She knew it could be much worse. That's when she found out her professional world was rocked. She got a call from Jim Simmons, her contact at her largest client.

Erica: Hey Jim! What's up? Good weather down there?

Jim: Hi Erica. Things are fine. I'm not someone who drags things out so I'm just going to rip the band-aid off. We're going to move in a different direction with our marketing efforts. We love working with you, but TDD has presented some problems for us. We keep getting incorrect invoices and it's creating a mess for our accounting team.

Erica: Jim, surely there is something that can be done. I can talk to billing. I'll review all the invoices myself. I can all but promise that you won't have this happen again.

Jim: I wish I could go down that route but the contract has been signed. We can revisit in two years when this agreement is over.

Erica had no words. She didn't know what to say.

Erica: Okay Jim, I appreciate you letting me know. Have a good day.

Jim could hear the tears welling up in Erica's eyes. He could tell she was getting emotional but there was nothing he could do. Erica immediately called Austin's assistant to get some time on his calendar. He wasn't available until tomorrow! It was times like this that Erica started to realize how dependent she was on Austin. She would be left adrift without his advice.